Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, is an accomplished gentleman. Governing the state in the last two years is stress-free for him because he was prepared for the job and he has a good team. He told journalists in this interview that these have made it possible for him to have accomplished almost all his campaign promises. MUYIWA OYINLOLA presents the excerpts:
As you reflect on your second year in office, what would you say has been your administration’s most impactful achievement in governance ?
The last two years have been exciting; working as a governor of Ekiti State has been a learning curve for me, and the experience has been a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly, but God has been faithful. I made a promise to Ekiti people that the government will provide a platform for them to prosper and whenever I see government policies responding to that promise either by providing infrastructure, supporting farmers and business owners, ramping up the security architecture of the state, paying pensioners their gratuities, paying workers’ salaries promptly, paying outstanding arrears and leave bonuses subvention and other services that make people happy, I am very grateful to God. I just want to see the people smile and live well.
What challenges have you faced in balancing the various sectors of the state’s development, and how have you overcome them ?
In government, there are a lot of unknown variables but I see myself as a bit lucky because I was part of the last administration as the Secretary to the State Government. That government laid a 30-year development plan for Ekiti State. So, it’s like we have our job cut out for us and the six pillars of this administration are an offshoot of the perspective plan, and it recognizes the fact that one government can’t do everything at the same time, so priorities were set in achieving the set goals. So, what we have done in trying to balance all the sectors is to communicate our priorities to the people, and in doing so, we have earned the trust of our people. Ekiti people know that when the governor says he will deliver on a task, they take my word for it and we do not fail them. I want to be remembered as a governor that tells the truth, all the time. Each time I look back on my campaign promises to the Ekiti people, I realise I have fulfilled almost all, and that gives me peace of mind. Our policies and programmes have always corresponded to their needs and aspirations. We have also embarked on the process of the 2025 budget preparation by engaging our citizens at the senatorial district level, asking them what they want from the government in the coming year. As a government, we do not sit in our offices and just develop policies for our people, and this has deepened our transparency and accountability index in governance. That is the difference between governing the people and governing with them. We prepare our budget based on available resources and suitable to meet the needs of each community.
What key initiatives should the people of Ekiti expect as you move into the third year of your administration ?
We have agreed at the Executive Council that we must meet the deadline of major projects in the third year of our administration and the third year budget is designed to address the completion of those projects but with emphasis on agriculture and the welfare of our people.
How have you tackled the issue of insecurity in the state to assure investors that Ekiti is safe to live, work, and invest ?
Insecurity is a national and global challenge, but in fairness, Ekiti is still one of the safest states in Nigeria. Although, we have pockets of criminalities; we are responding to that accordingly. We have been holding periodic security meetings with chiefs and major stakeholders in the state. What we have done is scale up intelligence because no matter how professional a security architecture is, if the intelligence is not accurate, there will be issues. So, now we have adopted a system in communities across the state that provides us with intelligence about criminal elements in society and that allows us to respond before they strike. You will discover that some months ago, there were killings within the Ado metropolis, but our strategies were swift enough to counter the situation and restore others in the state capital. 99% of the perpetrators have been brought to book, and justice has been served. I must also thank our people for volunteering information and for trusting us to handle the situation. After the killing of some of our Obas, we held a meeting with the Traditional Rulers’ Council, and we agreed to put in place what we call the ‘Agro Marshalls’ and they have been strategically distributed across farmsteads in the state to protect farms, farmers and host communities alike. We have also improved on our technology for the advancement of state security.
Ekiti used to be in the news for the wrong reasons especially in terms of political acrimony, but you seems to have changed the narratives. How have you been able to achieve this ?
As a servant leader, and every leader has a choice of how he wants to lead the people. I am an apostle of what they call soft power and leadership. It means you know that you have the power but you are careful not to misuse it. It means empathy and compassion. When God entrusted this office into my hands, I made up my mind that the only thing I will do on this seat, is to serve Ekiti people in a way and manner that will bring development into this state. One of the basic ingredients of development is peace and I promise myself that as long as it depends on me, I will be at peace with everyone. I believe that politics ended after my swearing in as the Governor of the state and that day I took an oath to protect the constitution of this country and to serve the people regardless of political affiliation. As the Governor, I see all of us as the indigene of Ekiti not belonging to party A ,B or C. I also note that an average human being deserves to be respected and as a leader you need to humble yourself and respect your people; you must show compassion and it will be very easy for them to walk the path of development with you. So, in the last two years, we have exhibited the highest sense of humility, compassion, empathy and transparency. I know that if the led trust their government, it will be very easy to lead them and I try as much as possible to be truthful in anything I say. If something is within my power to do, I will do it and if I cannot do it, I will come back to explain to Ekiti people why I have not been able to do it. So, we have exhibited trust as an ingredient of our politics. The people know that when their Governor makes a promise, it may be late, it will be done. To all leaders in the state, they are critical stakeholders and I need their help in one way or the other and I run to all of them for advice. Let me say that I don’t go to them as a politician, I go to them as Governor of the state and that makes it easy for them to relate with me. That is what is responsible for the peace we have in this state. As a leader, I have chosen the path of peaceful coexistence with everybody irrespective of political affiliations. It is a choice I have made, it has its own consequences and sacrifices but as long as the strategy translates to the development of our people, it makes me happy.
What are those consequences you faced with this your decision as mentioned ?
The price of people not accustomed to this style. You see some of our people telling me that I am not using my power. Some elements within my political party are also not comfortable with this posture. There have been a lot of ripples within APC with the choices I have made, but like I told them, it is in the interest of Ekiti people. We don’t play politics with everything; there is time for politics and governance. So far, so good, I have the backing and support of critical leaders in the party and party members are getting used to this style. Don’t forget it is a new style in our politics in Ekiti and some feathers might be ruffled, but I thank God that our people are getting used to it.
Now that you are at the mid-term; are you planning to carry out cabinet reshuffle in line with Key Performance Indicators you set for your cabinet members ?
We have the Office of Transformation, Service and Delivery ,OTSD, and they have carried out assessment of members of the executive council twice . And I have the reports, but I am a very fair person. I know ministries that we have supported, I know those we have not been able to support. We are in midterm now, they will do another assessment, which will make it three and after that I will sit down with the DG of OTSD , to look at the performances of members of Excos and if there are those that need help , we will help. And if there are those we cannot help, they will have to leave the cabinet, there is no doubt about that. I will be guided by facts and whoever that does not measure up to the threshold will leave the government.
Your administration has invested in agriculture most importantly the ‘Bring Our Youth to Agric’ Initiative , what are the plans of government in ensuring these programs are of huge benefit to Ekiti ?
It would shock you that those people that are coming to the state to park our yams and other produce are those that gave our farmers money to plant for them; when the Commissioner for Investment told me this, I wept because our farmers don’t have access to capital. In the beginning of the farming season, those who have money will come to Ekiti and give our farmers money to plant and collect the proceeds later and just gave them peanuts. You can’t tell someone who has invested in a business not to make profit and that is why I said we are looking for money for them through cooperative societies , so that they can go to their cooperatives , take loan, plant and be in charge of prices when it is time for them to sell. But, we are turning that curve now by the grace of God, and by next year we will do more. Part of the problems also is that most of our farmers have not joined cooperatives and it takes a lot of advocacy to change that orientation. The Bring Back our Youth to Agriculture is one program I am very proud of and I must commend the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security and the state investment promotion agency. When we started the program, people thought it would not be possible; we asked our youths to register and we trained them in partnership with a private sector. We started with 930 youths in six clusters across the state and cumulatively they have cultivated more than 2,000 hectares of all sort of crops ranging from maize to cassava to yam to beans to soya, to vegetables among others. I took it upon myself to go see those farms and what they have done, I was shocked. But there are still challenges we need to confront and as I speak to you, there are people who are ready to put down their money to offtake but my issue is that I don’t want those products to be taken outside Ekiti State. Our plan is to offtake, keep and release to the market next year when there is shortage but there is a challenge of where we are going to store them. The Silos we could have used was vandalized during #EndSARS protest, we even engaged the person in charge of the place to see how we can work together to rebuild, the person said the manufacturers have to do it themselves and they have not done it and we are nearing harvest season. The fears from those in government is that if we store up anywhere in town , they can be looted. Should we sell and let our farmers have the money but it will defeat the aim of the project because it is to crash prices of these items in Ekiti State. We have made up our mind that next year, we will continue to build warehouses and silos so that we can store our farm produce.
